Apex (17 page)

He said, “A convoy will pick up your prisoners
in an hour. Get them to Highway eighty five and they’ll meet you there.”

The woman that ran the convenience store in Ault asked him, “What’s the situation out there?”

“They all surrendered, as far as we can tell. We’re still trying to figure out how to round them all up and then we’ll have to decide what to do with them.”

She said, “We could kill these guys for you. It would be no problem at all and it would save you some paperwork.”

He smiled at that. “You’re not the first to offer that and I doubt you’ll be the last. But no, we’re taking them alive.”

“How did you find us all the way out here?”

“A man named General Parsons was last heard of in this area. Is he alright?”

“He’s dead and so are his men.”

The news didn’t surprise the man. “We’ve lost some of our best men and women to these bastards.”

“But we won.”

“Yes, I think we did.”

Melanie interrupted them. “These aliens here shed off some kind of robotic
armor right before they surrendered.”

“Can you show me where they are? The D.O.D. will be interested in them, I’m sure.”

“Of course.”

The aliens stared off into the distance, oblivious to the conversation. Once in awhile one of them would take a quick peek up at the sky, expectantly. The two largest portions of their mother ship still hung up there, floating lazily apart in orbit.

The Grey captain, and newly minted commander whispered, “I hope the ship enters the atmosphere and burns up. The last thing we need is for these Earthlings to go up there and reverse engineer our tech.”

A rifle was jammed under her chin by one of the humans so she took that as her cue to shut up.

Six Days after the Surrender:

Melanie watched the news. It was an obsession of hers now, ever since the alien attack had been thwarted. She waited to hear if the newly formed government had found a way to communicate with the captured aliens. She held her breath every time she turned the TV on, expecting to hear that a new threat was heading their way.

But the news stations were just as clueless as the viewers. They obsessed over what they had lost instead of what they had accomplished. The latest figures indicated that over eighty five percent of humanity had been killed off. They reported about the ruined infrastructures and structural losses but made little mention of the fact that they’d beaten a horrible foe, hell bent on their demise.

It was the human way, she guessed, to dwell on the negatives.

With each passing day, she relaxed a little more. The threat had passed.

Scott had been buried along with over a hundred others from town, just two days ago. She didn’t know how most of them had died.

The broken alien ship hung over the funerals ominously. But it also acted as a sign of victory. Scott’s mom clung to his little brother like she was afraid she might lose him too.

Jack’s mom was bleary eyed as the town honored him. If only a body had materialized, she’d have been able to accept his death
more easily. The pastor made no mention of his abilities but everyone there knew that Jack had single handedly saved the species from annihilation.

Dan and Molly even made it into town for the funerals. They’d taken over a farmhouse a little closer to town, but still far enough away to maintain their privacy. Molly’s wounds had all healed, including her mangled hands. Dan wore his newly acquired asbestos sleeves under his shirt. They looked happy together, despite everything they’d lost.

Melanie could barely walk past her dad without getting a hug. There was fear and gratitude in his hugs now. They were desperate, but unnecessary. She’d already survived the worst the universe could throw at her.

Ault was a gossiping sort of town but it took care of its own. No one breathed a word about what Melanie and her friends could do. And if anyone from the military knew of their abilities, from the reports from General Parsons, they were either dead or they didn’t care anymore. Melanie was grateful to be left alone.

A New Day

She turned the TV off and put her shorts on. It was a hot and sunny day. She poured a glass of orange juice and then wandered outside to stare up at the wreckage Jack had left in the sky for them all to marvel at.

The glass fell at her feet and her knees went weak when Jack walked right up to her and wrapped her up in a hug. She pushed away and tried to ask him how he’d survived and where he’d been, but only strangle sobs issued from her quavering lips.

He must’ve guessed she had questions but he didn’t have any answers. He said, “I don’t know how it happened. I kept phasing in and out, against my will. I appeared in the desert a couple of times and one time I appeared somewhere in the ocean. It happened so much that I lost my will to live. I kept blacking out, only to come to in a different place. I woke up in my bed an hour ago. I can only hope it’s over and I don’t vanish again.”

“Do you know what’s happened in the past week?”

“My mom filled me in on everything that’s happened since I disappeared. She still thinks I’m just a ghost.”

“Are you?”

“I don’t think so.”

He looked up at the demolished mother ship and said, “We did it.”

“You did it, Jack.”

“I didn’t do it alone and you know that.”

Before she knew why she was doing it, she leaned in and kissed him on the mouth. He touched her face with his fingertips and she started to cry.

Grey
Home World

The Grey Chancellor considered his limited options. The sweeper ship he’d personally sent out to make way for the colonization of a dozen worlds had failed. The final report indicated that it had run into severe problems at the second to last planet on its itinerary.

The report made mention of strange weapons with unnatural
properties.

That made no sense to the Chancellor. The species on that planet was backwards and weak. The attack should have been swift and clean. But his subsequent hails
were not returned, so maybe the reports had some merit.

To be sure the report was accurate; he’d sent a scout ship out to investigate.

It returned just moments ago and it confirmed his worst fears: That the sweeper ship had been destroyed. It also reported that at least ten thousand troops were being held captive on the planet, Earth.

He would’ve never guessed that such a simple mission could fail, but then again, th
e man he put in charge of it had shown signs of ineptitude. But it still should’ve been an easy mission with little risk.

Failure
did not bode well for the Chancellor’s career. He could never let anyone know that a species so primitive had not only thwarted his mission, but also held his men like a trophy of their victory. He had to clean up this mess and in a hurry, before his political enemies caught wind of it.

He knew just the man for the job.
He was brilliant, reckless, and bloodthirsty. And he had a squadron of madmen at his disposal that would be delighted to bathe in fresh alien blood, as they tortured and maimed their victims.

His name was General Shaylo, and he’d never lost a battle.

The Earthlings would beg for death, and they’d get it.

Molly and Dan’s New Farmhouse

Molly woke up gasping. She’d been having terrible nightmares ever since her near death experience. The funny thing about her dreams was that some of them seemed to come true, like premonitions but
too vague for her to be sure of them.

But just because she doubted herself didn’t mean
that Dan did. He wholeheartedly trusted her newfound abilities. He’d taken to asking her about her dreams every time she woke up and he’d point out each time her dreams became reality.

She wasn’t the only one to gain powers either. Lately, Dan’s hands sometimes crackled with little sparks of electricity. He’d been trying to focus the sparks but so far he wasn’t able to. They just came and went of their own accord. Sometimes when he touched her, her hair stood on end.

She couldn’t help but wonder what new abilities Melanie might have.

Dan walked over to the sofa she was resting on and put a hand on her shoulder. “You ok,
babe?”

“Just another damn dream.”

“I want you to start keeping a dream journal from now on.”

“Why?”

“Because your dream about Jack came true. I just got off the phone with Melanie. She said he’s alive. He returned to town yesterday.”

“Maybe it’s just a coincidence?”

“It could be, but what if it’s not?”

“Well let’s hope it is.”

“Why’s that?”

“
Because I just dreamt about an alien. I can’t get him out of my head. He’s a monster. His name is Shaylo and he’s coming to finish us off.”

“Will he succeed?”

“I don’t know.”

“We need to tell Jack.”

The End

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